Art in the middle of nowhere
The many towns of Shekhawati have the ancestral homes of some of the Indian industrial families like the Birlas and Goenk. These big and old havelis, lush frescoed walls, constructed between the late 18th and early 20th century, of local Marwaris merchants, ve had migrated to the port cities of Bombay and Calcutta in search of fortune. Their interaction with the British and exposure to industrial trends influenced the lifestyle, making homes in the style of new ideas, wealth and social position. The style and content of the frescoes show the urbanization of a traditional genre. Local artists stayed with the dimensional realism of traditional Rajput painting but mixed among the gods, goddesses and heroes of war, pictures of a changing world.
